Ethnobotany of starter culture (Ranu) used in production of rice-beer (Handia) by Oraon tribes of Khunti district of Jharkhand

Salomy Kujur^a* & Kunul Kandir^b
aDepartment of Botany, Jamshedpur Women’s College, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, 831001
^bUniversity  Department of Botany, Ranchi University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 834008

Received : 13th December, 2015; Revised : 18th January, 2016

Abstract : Ranu is the indigenous starter mixture used by the tribes of Jahrkhand for the preparation of rice based fermented alcoholic beverage handia. Handia is an essential drink of these communities and occupies a pivotal role socially, culturally and economically. It has religious uses and values and has an important place in every tribal festival. It is important to know the ethnobotany of ranu to decipher the medicinal properties of handia. Various plant parts are used for preparing ranu which are easily available in the forests of those areas. Therefore variation can be seen in the composition of ranu in different regions and different tribes. This paper deals with the composition of rant, as done by the Oraon tribes of Khunti district of Jharkhand.